Two weeks ago I shared with you how to do an Elimination Diet. This week I'm going to talk about what common items our family ate and what we replaced them with. So, read on, share, and be blessed!
When we did the Elimination Diet, we wanted it to be as seamless as possible knowing that "change" was always difficult for our daughter. So to do that, we simply tried to replace common foods we ate with the GF and DF version. For breakfast our kids ate cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, waffles, toast, eggs and fruit. At lunch they most commonly had a sandwich or hot dog with a veggie, fruit and cracker/chip of some sort. Snack time consisted of chips/salsa, crackers/hummus, a rare sweet treat, veggies or fruit. Dinner was usually a pretty balanced meal as well with a protein, veggie and starch such as, potatoes or rice.
We bought familiar foods such as GF pretzels, GF graham crackers and animal crackers, GF cookies, GF granola bars, GF waffles, GF cereal, GF oatmeal, GF bread, GF pasta, GF crackers, DF yogurt, DF cheese slices, GF/DF ice cream and Popsicles.
It sounds like we fed them a lot of snacky/junk in the beginning and I'm not gonna lie, we kinda did (in moderation of course)! We also bought lots of our favorite fruits and veggies. But, like I said, it was to make this transition as seamless as possible. We needed their buy in! We needed to convince them that being GF/DF wasn't a bad thing, it was actually a really good and TASTY thing!
I only recommend doing this for the first two weeks or so because it gets pricey if you by all the snacky type stuff on a regular basis. Once we determined we were going to be GF/DF/FCF permanently, we faded out the snacky stuff with more fruits and veggies, hummus, mixed nuts and other naturally GF/DF foods. We would have a few of the cheaper snacks on hand and every now and then as special treats, buy the more expensive things.
I also fired up the oven and got baking! Making our own GF/DF treats proved to be cheaper AND healthier. We try our best to maintain a low sugar diet for our kids and found that a lot of the GF/DF stuff on the shelf were HIGH in sugar just to make them taste better (I'm talking 20+g of sugar in one square shaped GF nutrigrain bar no bigger than the palm of my hand)! When I bake my own treats I can cut back the sugar if needed and can also make the items smaller to help cut how much sugar is in each treat. I baked my own bread almost daily because it was cheaper too (at first)!
When you head to the store, you will notice that GF/DF products are a bit more expensive than the latter. There are a few reasons for this...1. The ingredients they use are a bit more rare (ex. arrowroot flour, garfava flour, sweet brown rice flour) 2. Most GF/DF products are also CERTIFIED, which means they are made in a dedicated facility to ensure there is no cross contamination and it costs more to manufacture and maintain those facilities 3.They are often times made from Organic, Non-GMO, and all natural ingredients. So you are definitely getting what you pay for, in my opinion.
At this point you're probably just DYING to know what products in fact I am speaking of, right?! Well, I'm going to be a bit harsh and save that for next weeks post. I've gotta give you a reason to come back, but mostly it's because I have way too many favorites too share and if I don't, it'll take you a couple hours to read this one post! I will also share some pics and where I have found some really good deals for everyone (local or not)!
So be sure to bring your pen and paper next week because you are definitely going to want to make a shopping list! Until then, be blessed!
I've been thinking of trying the gluten free diet for our family. Jackson has some skin issues that we think might be due to a gluten sensitivity. I'd love to see some of your favorite recipes and hear how you handle eating out with the kids.
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